Papaya-Coloured PR Leaves Much To Be Desired
McLaren is showing us exactly how NOT to handle a PR crisis.
They won the F1 Constructors' Championship in Singapore. Awesome achievement. Instead, they're getting roasted across social media because Oscar Piastri watched the celebration from the media pen while his teammate (who is behind him in points) partied on the podium.
Their response? A single Instagram post: "OP81 🧡"
The comments section absolutely destroyed them. 24,000 likes on "damage control button" comments.
This isn't really about one Instagram post or one celebration. It's about a deeper problem that Sky Sports' Ted Kravitz nailed: "McLaren is trying so hard to be 'warm and cosy' that they're creating more problems than they're solving."
They have the "Papaya Rules" to manage the title fight between Piastri and Norris. Basically, "don't crash into each other and play nice." But when Norris made contact with Piastri on lap one and Piastri asked for the position back (as per the rules), the team said no. The Papaya Rules obviously apply until they don't.
I don't just want to add to the chorus of "Papaya Rules = Bad", but if I were advising McLaren, here's what I'd ask them to do:
Use the gap before Austin to actually reset. Not with PR posts but with real conversations. Stella and Brown need to sit with Piastri and address the elephant in the room: does he believe he gets equal treatment?
Accept the Papaya Rules are probably not going anywhere. Let's be realistic. They're probably staying in place for the rest of the season. But here's what needs to change: consistency. If you have rules, apply them the same way every time. Inconsistency kills trust every time.
Remember who you're dealing with. Piastri is young, incredibly talented, and has shown he can race wheel-to-wheel with the best. Teammate rivalries are as old as F1 itself, and we've seen it all before. But Senna and Prost didn't have to deal with social media amplifying every slight, every perceived injustice, and every awkward team radio message.
Stop the performative damage control. That Instagram post? Maybe it was a post that was already scheduled long before Singapore, but it made things worse because everyone could see through it. In the social media age, authenticity and timing aren't optional.
Understand the stakes. You're six races away from either cementing a championship-winning partnership or creating the kind of toxic teammate relationship that defines careers for all the wrong reasons.
The bigger lesson here? You can't PR your way out of a trust problem. And in 2025, every misstep gets magnified a thousand times when millions of fans are watching and commenting in real time.
McLaren has six races to get this right. They need to use the Austin break wisely.
Thoughts?